


Ring to Rule Them

by jynx, snarkasaurus



Series: Servants of the Ring [5]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Blood Drinking, M/M, Mind Control, Torture, deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 16:24:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jynx/pseuds/jynx, https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkasaurus/pseuds/snarkasaurus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thorin knew going to the elves was a bad choice, but he didn't expect this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ring to Rule Them

**Author's Note:**

> Jynx is involved with this. You know it's gonna hurt.

By the time they had stopped for the night, many of the company were hungry. Both Fili and Kili were as well, but they needed a different type of food; if they were to get it, they needed to procure food for the others. Kili handed Fili the reigns to his pony and gave him a chaste, by their standards, kiss.

"Happy hunting," Fili said. "Try and bag a deer?"

"No bunnies?" Kili asked with a smile.

"No bunnies," Fili said firmly as he made a face. Kili had rolled his eyes, kissed his cheek, and melted into the darkness to find them some meat.

Thorin chuckled. "What are you going to do when he can't find you any deer?" he asked

Fili gave him a filthy grin. "Do you really want the answer to that question?"

Bilbo gave him a startled look. "Isn't he your brother? I mean. You're affectionate, and that's grand, glad you're not killing each other and all, but..."

"Would it be a problem if he was my brother?" Fili asked. "Out of everything, I think him being my brother is probably the least offensive."

Bilbo blinked at him, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he shut it and adjusted his neck scarf. Thorin snorted in amusement, beckoning Fili to come to him as they sat near the fire Bombur had set up. Others were setting up camp, a few of them glancing warily at Fili until Dwalin barked at them. No one in the Company knew anything for sure except Balin and Dwalin, and Gandalf, of course. Others had heard the rumors of the Demon Princes of Erebor, the cursed line of Durin, whatever it was those rumors called them, but no one had actual proof.

"Are you all right?" Thorin asked quietly.

"We'll be fine if Kili can find a deer or something large," Fili said. "Even a fox would be welcome."

"If he doesn't?" Thorin asked.

Fili leaned against Thorin and closed his eyes. "Tomorrow, maybe. Not long before we'll need you and Dwalin."

Thorin hummed. “Don’t push yourself farther than you can go,” he warned, even though he knew it was futile. The boys would do what the boys would do, and he had to trust them with it.

Fili grinned, but he kept his eyes closed. “We could eat the hobbit,” he said, but he said it very softly so that Thorin was the only one to hear him.

“The hobbit is not for eating,” Thorin said, a hand on the back of Fili’s neck. “Consent, Fili. You will get it from anyone besides Dwalin and me that you drink from. Do you understand?”

Fili whined slightly but nodded, leaning against his uncle.

“C-could you explain?” Bilbo asked Gandalf. “I’m not quite sure what I’ve gotten myself into.”

“And what, Bilbo Baggins, would you care to have explained?”

Bilbo swallowed. “I look tasty?”

Gandalf puffed on his pipe. “There are many, many things in the world that you have never heard of. Of those things, the princes are one.”

Fili watched Bilbo with dark eyes, hooded and shadowed by the angle of the flame. “What do you know of the creatures of night, hobbit?” he asked quietly.

Bilbo swallowed. “Very little. Well. I mean. I know of bats and light bugs and the night birds.”

Gandalf puffed on his pipe as he considered Bilbo. “You have read, I am sure, of blood wraiths? The undead who can only survive on the blood of others.”

“Those are just fairy tales,” Bilbo protested. “They’re not real.”

“Oh, I assure you, they are very real,” Gandalf chuckled. “You may even see so later.”

Bilbo hesitated and looked up as Kili came back into the clearing with a deer slung over his shoulders. Fili laughed and got to his feet so he could help Kili clean and gut the animal. Bombur started preparing the fire for the meat. Bilbo watched as Kili and Fili crouched down next to the deer. He stared as Fili leaned down and, it looked like, kissing its stomach. Kili had a hand in Fili’s hair and if Bilbo squinted he was sure he would see blood on the other’s mouth.

“The Princes of Durin are blood wraiths,” Gandalf said quietly. “They are as in control of themselves as it is possible to be. They are feeding on the deer to help control their thirst and maintain their strength.”

Thorin loomed up in front of them. “And they will not feed on anyone unwilling.”

Bilbo swallowed hard. “They have promised?”

Thorin inclined his head. “They have...few inhibitions, if any, but one thing they do continue to stand by is their word. They have given theirs that they will not feed from the unwilling, so as long as you don’t tell them it’s okay, they will not touch you.”

Bilbo’s eyes trailed back to the boys, who had finished...feeding, and were now staring at each other intently. “What are they doing?” he watched Kili touch Fili’s cheek, Fili’s mouth turn into his hand and kiss it.

Gandalf puffed at his pipe. “What do you think they are doing?”

Bilbo watched as Kili leaned in and licked at the blood caught in Fili’s beard. Fili smiled, kissing Kili, before leaning back and away. Kili pouted but he took his knife out and started gutting and skinning the deer. Fili helped, the two talking softly as they cleaned the meat and set it aside for Bombur. Once the meat was clean Kili wiggled his bloody fingers at Fili with a laugh. Fili leaned forward and bit Kili’s finger, licking it clean.

Thorin chuckled. “Boys,” he called. The two looked over at him and grinned when Thorin pointed to the trees. “Not everyone wants to see.”

Bilbo watched them stand and disappear. “They’re...they...I...”

Thorin watched him, face still and impassive. “They are each other’s One. Two parts of the same whole, bound together for all time.”

“So they...”

Gandalf watched Bilbo’s face as he came to the correct conclusion, and nearly laughed outright. “Yes, Bilbo. They do. The dwarven taboo about such things make exceptions for situations such as these, and is very different from the hobbit one, anyway.” He glanced at Thorin.

Thorin shook his head. “Not as different as you might think. Though there were more problems with the rumors of their...health than there were with anything else.”

“Does everyone know?” Bilbo asked.

“The Company now knows,” Thorin said with a glance at the rest of the gathered dwarves, all of whom were acting as if nothing had happened. “But no, no one else knows anything for sure.”

Bilbo nodded and watched the rest of the dwarves quietly. When Fili and Kili rejoined them they were ruffled looking but clean of blood and smiling. Kili promptly went over to Dwalin and leaned up against the big dwarf with fluttering lashes while Fili asked Gandalf for some pipe weed. Dwalin ruffled Kili’s hair and pointed him to Bombur. It was interesting to watch, Fili having chosen a spot and sat with his pipe, and Kili helping to pass out the food Bombur had made to the rest of the Company before joining his brother.

If he hadn’t seen them feeding he never would have assumed they were wraiths. They looked, and acted, so normal.

:::

Elrond looked down at Kili and Fili, expression unreadable. They stared back at him, bodies tense, ready to move if necessary. Finally, he spoke. “Do you give your word that you will not touch a soul in this place?” he asked.

Fili looked at Kili, silently asking. They didn’t have to stay here. They could wait elsewhere. Of that, he was sure. He would leave it to his brother. 

Kili didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all, and this place smelled funny, and looking at the elves hurt, and he didn’t want to be here...but Gandalf said the elves would help, and he wanted his uncle to have what he deserved. He nodded, the movement imperceptible to anyone but Fili.

“We give our word,” Fili said, looking back at Elrond.

“Good. Then you are all welcome here.” Elrond turned and led the way.

Bilbo looked at the boys warily. “Will you be all right?”

Kili gave him a bright smile. “Of course! What could go wrong?”

Those turned out to be famous last words as the Company was whisked away for food and beds and clean water to wash with. Fili and Kili were separated from the group by the elves and Thorin and Dwalin had vanished with Bilbo and Balin. Rivendell was a lovely place but full of sun and open spaces that made Fili and Kili long for a forest or a cave to hide in.

No one seemed to notice when they went missing, the elves almost certainly making sure they wouldn't find the others. They of all people remembered the blood wraiths and knew the fear of ones at full power.

Kili dropped down next to a small pool of water, lying in the grass on his front and poking the water absently. Fili lay down next to him, head on Kili's shoulder as he stroked his back.

"D'you think they meant to forget us?" Kili asked softly. He was hungry and weak and the sun was starting to hurt even with Gandalf's magic ring.

Fili didn't answer right away. He didn't know. "The elves meant for them to forget us," he finally said, voice slow and low. "I'm sure they meant to weaken us."

Kili lifted his hand and let them drip. "Do you think Uncle and Dwalin forgot us on purpose?"

"That I do not know, my One. It would be the perfect time to be free of is, if that is what they chose to do."

Kili rolled over and tucked his head under Fili’s chin. “I wanna go home, Fee,” he mumbled. “Or somewhere else, anywhere but here.”

Fili pulled Kili close and nuzzled him gently. “We could leave?”

“And go where?” Kili asked. “There’s too many wargs and orcs. We wouldn’t make it very far.”

"We could eat all the elves and live here?" Fili offered. He didn't mean it, though. Even if they had the strength to take out the elves, they would never live in this place.

Kili let himself sag backward and to the side, curling up with his head in Fili's lap. "We are going to die here," he whispered.

Fili ran his hands through Kili’s hair. “No, Kee, we won’t. We’ll leave before that happens.”

“Then we should leave now,” Kili said. “Fee, please. Can we leave now?” He sat up and tugged at Fili’s fur coat. “I don’t want to die here.”

Fili forced himself to his feet, wavering a little when he stood. “Do you have your bow?” he asked.

“It’s...” Kili frowned and focused. “I know where it is. We can go get it.” He focused for a moment. “We can do this together, if we do it now.”

Fili helped Kili to his feet and he let Kili lead them, both of them a lot shakier on their feet than they would have thought. They didn’t make it very far, only inside the outside structures of Rivendell in a little alcove with a small fountain and plenty of pillows. Fili stumbled down onto one and brought Kili with him, arms wrapped tight around his brother.

“We should never have come here,” Fili said. “We should have left.”

Kili blinked at him tiredly. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I wanted to be close to uncle.”

“It’s not your fault,” Fili said, kissing one of Kili’s eyelids. “Gandalf brought us here. He should have known.”

Kili pressed in tight against Fili’s chest and closed his eyes completely. “I’m so hungry,” he whispered softly.

“So am I,” Fili said. He closed his own eyes, and let himself drift. He didn’t have any energy left. He wanted to. He wanted to get up and hunt down Thorin and Dwalin and demand to know why they had forgotten them, why they had been abandoned, why... “They don’t want us any more, Kee,” he said, suddenly incredibly, horribly sad.

Kili didn’t have the energy to do more than reach out and weakly hold Fili’s hand. He was so tired, so hungry. He closed his aching eyes and felt blood leak from his eyes as bloody tears. He kept his hold on Fili and tried to conserve his energy. Maybe they would get lucky and they would be able to escape. Maybe...maybe...

Bilbo had spent the past few hours wandering around Rivendell. He knew there was something he should be looking after or minding but he could not for the life of him remember what it was. He heard a woman whisper and he looked to the side, almost seeing the flash of a white skirt go around a nearby corner. He followed, curious, following the woman when he spotted her, until he came upon a little alcove tucked out of the way.

He peeked in and jerked back, horrified. He recognized Fili and Kili, but only just. Their skin was pale and white, loose and taunt at the same time with wide black eyes. Their fangs looked longer and there was another set on the bottom that Bilbo hadn’t seen before. They were thin and sickly looking, more wraith than Bilbo had ever seen them before. He swallowed and took a step closer, than another and another until he was standing between them where they lay on throw pillows with their hands linked together.

“B-boys?” Bilbo tried, his voice shaking just the slightest. When he received no response he reached out and very carefully shook Fili’s shoulder.

Fili slowly tracked toward Bilbo, but he couldn’t speak. He just rolled his head back toward Kili and waited for the end. That’s all he had.

Bilbo was scared. Not of the boys, exactly. Though, they were frightening. No, he was scared for them. They were obviously sick--dying, deprived of what they needed. They were suffering, near death, and he didn’t know what to do. His breath caught the moment that thought crossed his mind, because he did know what to do.

He stuck out his arm. “Drink. Feed from me. I agree. Please, feed from me, before you die.”

Kili could barely focus on what was happening around him. There was noise and color and movement but nothing registered. He knew Fili was close and that was all that mattered to him. So long as his brother was with him he could face anything, even Death.

Bilbo panicked, trying to think. They weren’t hearing him, or they were too far gone to react, but he knew that blood was what they needed. He looked down at his belt and the sword and pulled it, cutting his arm just a little bit, and pressing his wrist to Kili’s mouth. He looked the worst off, the one who needed it the most. He dribbled blood into the youngest’s mouth and watched as Kili tried to turn his face away.

Bilbo bit his lip and kept his wrist there until he felt the lightest bit of suction and felt an ice cold hand curl around his elbow. Kili’s eyes were open, still black, but focused as Bilbo stroked his hair. Kili pulled away after only a few mouthfuls, turning his face toward Fili and tugging on their linked hands. Bilbo offered his still bleeding wrist to the older prince and watched as Fili sluggishly moved to suck and lick at the wound.

“Will you two be okay while I go find the others to help you?” Bilbo asked as Fili kept feeding. “You need more than I can give you.”

Kili made a tiny noise that sounded like they would be fine and Bilbo nodded, binding his wrist with his neck scarf when Fili let him go. Bilbo hesitated and leaned over, giving both boys a quick kiss on their foreheads, before running off to find someone to help. It didn’t take too long for Bilbo to find Thorin and he panted, trying to catch his breath.

“Fili, Kili,” he said as he worked on slowing his breathing. “Need help. Dying.”

Thorin didn’t look at the hobbit for a moment, trying to focus instead on what was in front of him. It was difficult. He felt like he was in a fog, the kind that he couldn’t slog free of. Then Bilbo’s words penetrated and he jerked. “No,” he gasped, and took off running. He couldn’t have. He couldn’t have completely forgotten the two most important beings in his life, left them to fend for themselves in this horrible place, a place they didn’t even want to be in the first place.

He ran down the hallway, following Bilbo, until he found the boys in a pillow filled alcove. He groaned and fell to his knees next to them. “Oh my boys,” Thorin said, his voice filled with pain and regret. “A knife. I need a knife.”

“You may not!” Elrond boomed, standing in the doorway. “They swore an oath!”

“They are dying, you fool!” Thorin spat, and took the knife handed him, slicing his wrist and holding it to Fili’s mouth. Dwalin had somehow made it in beside him, on the other side of Kili, and was doing the same, cradling the thin, wraith like body as he crooned quietly and fed him.

“You asked them not to touch a soul,” Bilbo said, “and they haven’t. We’re touching them; we’re forcing them, not the other way around. They have not broken their word.”

Fili reluctantly took the blood, listening as Bilbo defended them, as Thorin pressed kisses into his hair and whispered apologies, as Dwalin talked softly to Kili. Fili drank, tasting something strange in Thorin’s blood, filing the thought away for later as he drank. All too soon, though, he had to pull away. If he drank anymore he would run the risk of hurting Thorin.

“You still need to eat,” Thorin said, stroking Fili’s hair. “You look a little better.”

“‘m not gonna hurt you,” Fili mumbled, scooting away.

Thorin looked up at the Company. “Will anyone help?” he asked. “Volunteers.”

Bofur stepped forward the same time Bifur did. Bofur took the knife from Thorin and made careful cuts on both his and his cousin’s arms. Bifur knelt next to Kili, tugging him into his arms and lap and pushing his bleeding wrist against Kili’s mouth. Fili watched as Bofur knelt next to him and offered his wrist.

 

“C’mon, lad,” Bofur said softly. “No sense letting it go to waste now, right?”

Fili hesitated, watching as the blood dripped onto the smooth stone of the alcove. He made a tiny noise in the back of his throat and leaned in to accept the blood Bofur was offering. It took every member of the Company, except for Oin, to feed Fili and Kili enough that they had returned to normal. Kili had skittered away from them afterwards, clinging tight to Fili, as they stayed pressed against the walls of the alcove.

Thorin’s heart hurt. He stood, stepping in front of his boys, facing Elrond, Gandalf, and the rest of the elves ranged behind them. “You did this,” he snarled. “You forced them to make an oath that you knew would kill them, and then you used magic to make us forget about them.”

Elrond opened his mouth, but Thorin silenced him with a snarl. “We are leaving. You have told us what we need to know, and for that, I thank you, but _we are leaving_.” He looked at Gandalf. “And that was your one chance, Wizard. If you try and harm my boys again, you will find yourself at the end of my sword.”

Gandalf’s face darkened, but he inclined his head. Protesting now that he hadn’t known this would be the result of bringing the company to Rivendell would end in nothing but frustration and anger. He had thought that the elves would see the good in the princes, not the evil of the thing they were.

Galadriel moved forward, her steps as fluid and graceful as always. “You will be sent forth from this place with as many blessings as I can bestow upon you,” she said in her quiet way. “I was unaware of such harm to the princes until very recently,” and the look she gave Elrond was cool, serene, and completely deadly. “If I was certain my blood could help them, I, too, would offer it up to them.”

Thorin stared at her in surprise. “Then you have my thanks, Lady,” he said roughly. “Dwalin.”

Dwalin moved slowly, but reached for Kili the same as Thorin reached for Fili. Both princes whined, struggling a little as they were separated, but even though they looked better, they were still weak, and they couldn’t resist being lifted in Thorin and Dwalin’s arms. Thorin led the way, cradling his nephew against his chest.

The Company went back and began gathering their supplies and bags, each moving just a little slower from the loss of blood. Thorin and Dwalin’s bags were split among the others, along with Fili and Kili’s, everyone doing what they could to help their princes.

“I will meet you in the mountains,” Gandalf said to Thorin, resting a gentle hand on Fili’s shoulder. “First I must speak with Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel.”

Thorin gave a jerky nod and called for the Company to move out.

:::

They had managed to get away from the Goblins, Orcs, and Wargs and had actually managed their first glimpse of Erebor. Everyone in the Company was tired and bruised and covered with cuts. While the Goblins had held everyone captive and made noises about harming Thorin and the rest, they had been positive gleeful when they realized that Thorin’s nephews were blood wraiths. They’d bled Fili and Kili, taking the blood they’d so badly needed after Rivendell, with the intent of turning them on the Company before Gandalf had come to their rescue.

Now, though, they had all set up camp in the forest near the rock, taking advantage of the time to rest before continuing.

Thorin watched Fili and Kili, laying still and quiet after feeding on three deer apiece. The meat was now smoking over a fire, Bombur tending it carefully to preserve as much as possible against the rest of the journey. He knew that the boys needed more, needed blood not from forest animals. Gandalf had even opened a vein for them both, but he had to cut them off long before they were sated.

The problem was, he had no idea what to do for them. He had...no clue.

“Thorin?” Bilbo asked quietly, interrupting the king’s thoughts.

“Yes, hobbit?” he asked, looking at Bilbo. “What is it?”

“Will they be all right? They haven’t moved since...” Bilbo shifted. “They also haven’t stopped staring at me.”

Thorin blinked and looked over at Fili and Kili again. Sure enough, even though they hadn’t moved, their eyes were locked on Bilbo. That was odd. “I don’t know,” he answered slowly. “Nor do I know why they’re watching you so intently.”

Bilbo fidgeted. "I could try and feed them?"

"I don't think that's a good idea right now," Thorin said as he watched them. "They've never acted like this before."

"Maybe it’s a buildup of everything that's happened?" Bilbo suggested.

Thorin frowned and got to his feet. "Walk with me," he instructed, keeping his eyes on the boys. Their eyes were changing. Instead of all black like they had been they now sported one red eye each. As he and Bilbo walked over to Gandalf he watched as their eyes tracked Bilbo's every movement.

"Gandalf," Bilbo asked.

"What is happening to my nephews?" Thorin demanded.

Gandalf puffed on his pipe, his eyes as relentlessly locked on the boys as theirs were on Bilbo. “They are becoming wraiths,” he finally said.

“Aren’t they already wraiths?” Bilbo asked, confused.

“Yes, they are, but thus far, they’ve kept a hold of a very large part of themselves, what make them Fili and Kili. Morally loose, if you’ll forgive the expression, yes. That they have been. But thus far, that reduction of inhibition, intolerance of sunlight, and the craving for blood, are the only real changes they have undergone.” Gandalf puffed at his pipe and looked sad. “Something has made them give up on that piece of self, and they are succumbing to their baser needs.

Thorin felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He could guess what was making them give up, and he blamed himself through and through. He didn’t care that he’d likely been influenced by elf magic, or that the boys had never once verbally blamed him, though he’d received a betrayed look or two. He knew what had made them give up. “This is my fault,” he whispered. “I did this to them.”

Gandalf puffed at his pipe. "Do not be hasty, my friend, in blaming yourself. I do not believe it is entirely your fault."

Thorin narrowed his eyes. If that wasn't damning praise he wasn't sure what was.

"Call your nephews over to us if you would, Thorin."

Thorin went over to his boys and squatted down next to them. "Fili, Kili, would you join us? Gandalf wishes to have some words."

Neither of them looked at him, craning their necks to keep their eyes locked on Bilbo. Thorin tries to get their attention a few more times and would have shaken them but some animal instinct warned him against the action. He gave up after a few minutes and rejoined Gandalf and Bilbo.

"They will not listen to me," Thorin said.

"Bilbo, call them over," Gandalf said. As Bilbo went to walk toward the boys he was tugged back by the wizard. "From here, if you would."

Bilbo hesitated and nodded. He cleared his throat and said in a firm voice, "Fili, Kili, if you would come here, please."

Immediately the two were on their feet and standing in front of Bilbo.

Thorin blinked in shock. “What...” 

Gandalf frowned and puffed at his pipe. “Tell them to go hunt for food for the company, Bilbo,” he said quietly. 

Bilbo frowned. “Why? Why should I make such a request?” he asked, legitimately confused. 

Gandalf pinned him with a sober, fierce look. “Because at the moment, you are the only one who can.” 

Bilbo quailed at that look and tone, and turned his attention to the unnerving dwarves in front of him. “Go find food for the entire company.” He tried to put a little bit of firmness and command into his voice. 

It was entirely unnecessary, he discovered, because almost as soon as he’d finished the first part of the sentence, the boys were trembling, and in the next, they were gone. “...that could have gone significantly worse,” he said, trembling with reaction. 

“Gandalf,” Thorin prompted. “What in Durin’s name is going on?”

“Why are they listening to me of all people?” Bilbo asked, glancing at Thorin and then back at Gandalf.

Gandalf was silent for a moment as he puffed on his pipe. “This is part of the normal progression of blood wraiths,” he said after a long moment. “They never arrived at this point before because they had reasons not to and were able to hold onto their minds. With the blood loss and then the gain and then such a rapid loss again in short period of time...it has impacted their control.”

“That explains why they are acting odd but not why they will not stop watching the hobbit,” Thorin said.

“Bilbo saved your life,” Gandalf said. “They have fixated on that because part of them still remembers who you are to them. It will fade with time.”

Thorin eyed Gandalf in suspicion but let it go, shaking his head and walking back over to his seat near Dwalin. Bilbo watched him and turned to look at Gandalf but the wizard was watching the woods where Fili and Kili had gone.

:::

Thorin woke to the feeling of two cold squirming bodies boxing him in. He opened his eyes and examined his nephews as best he could in the pale light of the very early morn. Kili was closest to him, idly dragging his fangs along the shoulder of Thorin’s tunic. Thorin could see his eyes, his red eyes, and felt his heart clench.

“What do you need?” Thorin asked softly, raising a hand to gently stroke Kili’s hair. Kili turned his head into the caress and tilted his head to drag his fangs along Thorin’s vambrace. Fili, behind him, dragged his fangs over Thorin’s shoulder. Thorin sat up, almost displacing the two, and took off his bracers and gloves and gave each boy and arm.

Kili nuzzled at his skin, his fangs moving from one spot to another as if he could not make up his mind where he wanted to drink from. Fili, on the other hand, had sunk his fangs in immediately, suckling hungrily at Thorin’s wrist. Kili finally made up his mind, nudging Thorin’s shirt up enough to sink his fangs into the meat of his forearm. Thorin watched them as they fed, his heart aching with guilt and regret. The boys did not feed for long, pulling away and looking up at him and licking their lips at the same time, creepily in sync with each other to a degree they had never been before. 

Fili leaned in to lick some of the blood from Kili’s chin, eyes still on Thorin as he did. Thorin calmly stayed as he was and watched as Kili leaned into Fili, letting him clean his face, before Kili leaned in and kissed Thorin. It wasn’t like Kili’s normal kisses where his nephew would put his whole being into the kiss but more like a puppet going through the motions. Fili pressed closer, resting his head on Thorin’s shoulder, as Kili kissed him again. Thorin breathed through his nose in an attempt to calm himself and reached out, cupping a hand around the back of Kili’s head, and kissed him like he would have before.

Kili was still for a moment and then began to mimic back what Thorin was doing. He could feel Fili’s eyes on them but wanted so much to have the one bit of normalcy that he did not care. After a moment Kili pulled away, licking his lips and squirming into Thorin’s lap where he writhed and ground against him. Thorin bit his lip to keep from moaning and let Kili work his hands into Thorin’s pants and wrap an icy hand around his cock.

“Kili,” Thorin said quietly, not wanting to gain the attention of the dwarf on watch. “Please.”

Kili tipped his head to the side and began stroking Thorin to hardness while Fili nuzzled Thorin’s throat idly. Thorin closed his eyes and prayed this would not backfire on him and stood, walking away from his nephews as he fixed his pants.

Kili and Fili were on him quickly, squishing themselves up tight against his body, one on either side. It was then Thorin realized they had not yet made a sound, other than the sounds generated by drinking and kissing. It unnerved him. 

Thorin hesitated and wrapped his arms around his boys, holding them close and trying to ignore how very cold they still were. They had always warmed after feeding but now they were still like ice. Thorin rubbed their backs subconsciously as he kissed both their foreheads. The boys glanced up at him at the same time as if trying to figure him out.

"Sit with me?" he asked them quietly.

There was another of those pauses, as though they were assimilating information and looking for the proper reaction. They didn't fight him, though, when he headed for a fallen log and sat. They also don't leave him. 

He felt an enormous weight of guilt as he sat there with them, the chill of their bodies slowly seeping into him. He had done this to them by forgetting them in Rivendell. Thorin closed his eyes against the upwelling info grief, the despair that he had started the boys toward this loss of self.

Thorin held them against him, letting them nibble gently on his wrist though they did not draw blood. There was the barest trace of who they were, the calm affection the only constant, and it broke Thorin’s heart. He was starting to doze with his boys against him when he heard the scream of an orc. He jolted awake and surged to his feet, hand going for his sword.

Fili pushed Thorin back to sitting on the log as Kili took his sword away. The two flowed into the forest in the direction of the scream as if they were made of nothing but shadows. Thorin waited until he knew they were gone before getting to his feet and waking the Company. If there were orcs around, they needed to be stopped.

:::

“Oh my,” Bofur said as they came upon the village. 

There were nothing but bodies as far as the eye could see, but none of them looked as if they had been killed by orcs. Indeed, there were a fair number of orc bodies strewn in with the villagers. Dwalin knelt next to the corpse of a child and turned him.

“His throat’s been ripped out,” he said, looking back at Thorin.

“They wouldn’t have,” Thorin said, his hand tightening on his sword.

“They were starving,” Dwalin said. “If it meant survival, then they would have.”

Gandalf used his staff to turn an orc over, showing that the creature’s throat had also been shredded by fangs. The Company carefully made their way through the village, some of them gagging and making noises of distress when they saw the sheer amount of bodies, but Thorin and Dwalin pressed on. Bilbo had his hand pressed to his mouth with wide eyes, staying close to Gandalf, Sting in his other hand.

They found Fili and Kili in the village’s square, twined around each other, Kili licking the blood off Fili’s face. Their clothes were barely on and they were covered in blood as if they had taken a bath in it. Fili’s red eyes watched them over Kili’s shoulder, his mouth opening just the slightest to bare his fangs, but there was no further acknowledgement of their presence. Kili was making the slightest amount of a noise, a pleased sound rumbling in his throat as he cleaned his brother with his tongue. Fili’s hands were on Kili’s naked hips, the possessiveness clear in the way his gore-stained fingers were digging into Kili’s flesh.

“What happened?” Thorin asked, though he was fairly sure it was useless. He knew what had happened. The scream of the orc had been the pack attacking this village. Fili and Kili had reacted, following whatever innate drive to help, but also for destruction now drove them. He only wondered if they had killed all of the orcs before turning on the villagers. 

Gandalf gave him a sad look. “I do not know if we will be able to keep them with us, Thorin Oakenshield,” he said quietly. 

Bilbo frowned. “But...wait, they listen to me, right?” he said slowly, looking at Gandalf and at Thorin. “They obey me?”

Thorin looked over at the boys, still twined together, but now watching the company with their full, red-eyed, eerily still attention. He realized he knew exactly what they’d done, and he wanted to scream and cry and rage and throw up. “They seem to,” he grit out, trying to restrain all of those reactions.

“Then...can I tell them to behave?” Bilbo asked.

Gandalf regarded Bilbo for a moment before looking back at the boys. “It is worth a try,” he said.

Bilbo hesitated for a moment and stepped closer to the boys, coming within reaching distance. “You will not do this again,” he said, voice firm. “You will remember your oaths.”

Fili made a distressed noise in the back of his throat as Kili buried his head against Fili’s shoulder.

“Speak,” Bilbo said. “Tell me you understand and will not do this again.”

Fili nuzzled Kili’s hair, eyes on Bilbo. “We s-swear,” he said, voice rough sounding and with a slight hiss.

“Kili?” Bilbo prompted.

Kili pressed himself tighter against Fili instead of answering. Bilbo looked at Gandalf, unsure of what to do.

“S-swear,” came the mumbled and hissed echo.

Bilbo looked back at the boys, and sighed. “Right proper mess you’ve gotten yourselves into,” he muttered, and reached out to stroke their hair.

No one was prepared for the reaction. Fili and Kili pressed into his hands, and separated from each other to wind themselves around Bilbo instead. 

Thorin was startled by the cold peel of jealousy that roiled through his stomach. Why were they acting like that? They wouldn’t even look at him, and it made Thorin want to....want to what? The only claim on them he had was that of kinship, and even that was tenuous at best, these days. They’d shared...a lot, but whether it actually meant something to creatures who didn’t feel the way normal people did... 

Bilbo keep petting them, a little overwhelmed by their reaction, but willing to go with it if it meant no more terrifying behavior. “Thank you for your promises,” he told them. 

Kili nuzzled one of Bilbo’s ears, teasingly scraping it with his fangs while Fili’s hands stroked Bilbo’s pudgy little tummy. Thorin glanced at Dwalin who was looking as shocked as Thorin felt. The Company had started back to their camp but Gandalf and Dwalin had remained. Bilbo was squeaking and trying very hard to extricate himself from suddenly very amorous wraiths.

“Bilbo, why don’t you take the boys back to camp,” Gandalf said. “And remember, they will obey you, so if you don’t want something, bloody well say it!” 

“Stop!” Bilbo squeaked immediately. Fili and Kili both stilled, giving him confused, sad looks. “Not...not right now. Let’s go back and...And you can guard everyone!” He tried not to look panicked. 

The boys immediately moved off into the darkness, only pausing long enough to make sure Bilbo was keeping up with them. 

Thorin sagged against the nearest tree and buried his face in his hands.

Dwalin reached out and squeezed Thorin’s shoulder. “It will be okay,” he said softly.

“Will it?” Thorin asked. “This is my fault, Dwalin. I forgot about them and them and now we’re all paying for it.”

Dwalin leaned down to kiss Thorin’s cheek. “They’ll be fine. Even if they are taking orders from a hobbit, of all things.”

Thorin nodded and headed back to the camp. The boys had their weapons out and were slowly walking a ring around the camp, doing as Bilbo had instructed. Thorin went back to his bedroll and sat down, his head in his hands.


End file.
